Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127554
eOF~ROAD~AN~oo~~~_R~~_~_ili~~_~_~_ro_S_~_~:_R_oo_~_4~~~~~~~~ Kawasak i T eam Green 's Larry Roeseler carded th e overall victory at the Boise Ridge Ri ders' ISDE Two-Day Qualifier. R g thegold in Idaho oeseler rabs By Ken Harvey Jr. IDAHOCITY, IDAHO, MAY30-31 awasaki's Lar ry Roeseler emerged the victor aft er a du sty two days of compe ti tio n at the Boise Ridge Rid ers' ISDE Two-Day Qualifier. H e was foll owed clo sely in th e 250cc class and in the overall standings by threetim e National Enduro Champion Randy Hawkins and form er GP motocrosser Rodney Smith. Other class win s went to Jimmy Lewi s in the 125cc divisi on, T om Webb in the Open class, Czechosl ovaki an Jan Hr ebor in th e 350cc FourStr oke class and Sweden's Jimmie K 18 Eriksson in the 500cc Fou r-Stroke class. T em peratures were ideal for the field of 75 Letter of Int ent riders and nearly 400 regular end uro riders wh o rode the event, but the lack of rain sin ce April caused du st to be the biggest factor of ! th e weekend. . Right off the start the Boise Ridge Riders were scrambling to compensate for the dus t problem. Lots of riders were lat e to the first ro ute check after waiting in line to enter the special test section. The conditi o ns were so severe that it took mor e tha n 30 seconds to let the dust clear befor e th e next rider was all owed into the test section, and . tha t led to a back-up of the two-ridersper-minu te sched u le. Five minutes per section were add ed to th e sched ule to compensate for th e problem of bottlenecks at the tests. In th e du sty first terrain test, Smith, Steve Ha tch , and Dan Niels on a ll tied fo r fast time. Scott McLaughlin took full adva n tage of dust-free conditio ns to card the fastest 125cc time , as did Robert Johnson in the O pen class. Four-Stroke class winners Hrehor, riding a Suzuki 'DR350, and Eriksson, aboard a Husaberg, started off the qualifier on a winning note with fast times in their respective classes. When riders were not engulfed in a tunnel of fog-like dust the Idaho trails treated them with spectacular views from 5000-foot mountains. Riders stayed on time with the adjusted schedule, and it was back to full throttle in the tests to determine the -overa ll and 'class winners. The grass track was run once on Saturday. It was located in a valley in a thin forest area. Lots of tight turns kept riders in first gear for a good portion of the test and dust meant that visibility would be a problem. When scores were posted, Hawkins was fastest time. Questions were quickly moun ting about the timing of the grass track. The question wasn't so much that Hawkins had posted the quickest tim e, but it was tha t his time was almost 40 seconds faster than anyone else in a five-minute test. Despite the questionable time, the AMA and club officials revi ewed the scores and allowed Hawkins' time to stand. " T he test was a joke," said Smith. "It was so du sty that you co uldn 't see the ribbons marking the course. Som e of the ribbons were knocked down, and people were cu tting off turns and . sec tio ns o f .th e test with ou t even kn owing it. Even Tom Webb said at one point (that) he, was unknowingly rid ing on the co urse backwards! I thi nk that's wh y some of the times were qu estionable." . The next quickest tim e in the test was recorded by Hatch with Smith, Eri ksson , Roeseler, former National En d uro Champion Kevin Hines, and Team G reen 's Kurt H ou gh o nly seconds behind. Lewis too k the 125cc fast time and Webb did the same in the Open class. A simi lar situatio n arose in the second terrain test. Roeseler emerged wi th the fastest tim e there, only it was close to a minu te bett er than the next tim e. O nce again, th e validi ty of the clocks was questio ned. In th e terra in test , th a t took ap pro ximately 10minu tes lO co m p lete, Roeseler was followed by multi-time Cross Country and Hare Scrambles National Champion Scott Summers, Smith, Hawki ns, Lewis and Hough, all closely divided by only a few seconds. After further review of th e tim es, once again, th e club allowed th e test scores lO stand. Roeseler said , " I had a few no -no 's (d ur ing the test), but I made it. I. had i t pinned th rough there." At the end of the first day it was Ro esel er lea d in g with H awkin s traili ng. . H awkins ' comment with respect to the scoring was, " It was almost like a lottery and Larry and I won. " . Day two offered the sam e cour se run in the opposite di rection. T he times were slow to allow for the d ust which had o nly worsened. T he day wou ld consist of two grass tracks and one terrain test. On Sun day morning, it was announced that the final motocross special test, alw ays held at the end of the last day, had been elim inated from th e program's sched ule for safety reasons - du e to the dry and dusty conditio ns. Rodney Smith turned on the gas in an effort to mak e up lost time on Sunday. In the first grass track he clicked off the quickest time. Hawkins was eight seconds back a nd then it was Hatch, Ericksson a nd Roeseler all II seconds off Smith's standard. Lewis was still putting time on the 125cc class , with Suzuki 's Jon King